Trump's Dreamers Decision is All About Racism, Not Politics

Not only is Donald J. Trump a racist, he’s dumb. And one of the dumbest decisions of his first year in office was rescinding the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

Could it have something to do with their skin tones?

The Center for American Progress last summer conducted a survey of more than 3,000 Dreamers in 46 states. The results showed this: More than 90 percent of the young men and women were employed; a third of Dreamers over 25 had bachelor’s degrees, and 8 percent of that group had started their own businesses. About 45 percent of the Dreamers were attending school at some level, with 75 percent of that group pursuing a bachelor’s degree. More than half of those in the survey reported moving to better jobs and better pay in the five years after DACA protections went into effect.

“These workers have high levels of human capital, they speak English, and their wages and productivity increased as a consequence of DACA,” writes Giovanni Peri, an economist who studies immigration at the University of California, Davis. “They are and will be doctors, nurses, engineers, scientists, accountants, teachers, cooks, biologists and secretaries, among other occupations.”